Jordaan Grotius

Jordaan Grotius (1675-summer 1704) was an admiral of the United Provinces. Its leading commander in the Hanoverian War against Sweden, he was killed in the Battle of Rostock, during which the Dutch Baltic fleet was destroyed.

Biography
Grotius was born in Delft, and was a descendant of Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius. Jordaan Grotius became a sailor in the Dutch Navy at the age of 12 in 1687, and fought in the War of the Grand Alliance. At the mere age of 25 he was appointed Admiral of the Dutch North Sea squadron, with 18-gun sloop "Postiljon" was his flagship.

Grotius eventually amassed a huge fleet of 10 ships, 8 of them sloops. When war broke out with Sweden in 1703, Grotius was appointed as the commander of an expedition to the Baltic Sea, in which he raided the trade routes of Sweden heading to Great Britain. Grotius headed further into the sea and engaged the Swedes at Rostock, off the coast of Prussia. Grotius faced Emmanuel Jonassen's fleet of 11 Swedish ships, and concentrated on the Swedish capital ships, killing Jonassen. However, the rest of the Swedish fleet came into play and the Dutch fleet was annihilated. Grotius was killed by cannon fire on his flagship, and died a hero's death. Shortly after, the United Provinces made peace with Sweden.